


Creature Comforts

by beesandoreos, bloodyhands_and_hollowstars



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Cats, Foggy can't handle Matt and his sass, Gen, Karen tries so hard, Matt is a sassy asshole, Never trust Matt Murdock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:39:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6629851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beesandoreos/pseuds/beesandoreos, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodyhands_and_hollowstars/pseuds/bloodyhands_and_hollowstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karen Page just wants to keep Matt safe. It's not her fault he can't follow instructions.<br/>(In which Matt is an asshole with too much sass and one very frazzled cat gets a walk.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Creature Comforts

It was a typical morning in Hell’s Kitchen. The pigeons were quarreling over bread crumbs outside, the smell of strong coffee permeated the building, and Karen was yelling at Matt. 

“When are you going to stop being so damn stubborn and get a seeing-eye dog like all other sensible blind people do?”

“Never,” Matt muttered rebelliously, carefully setting aside his coat and cane. 

Karen refused to give up.

“You come in with new bruises every day. How many walls did you run into yesterday? Your entire face is black and blue. You need a guide dog.”

Matt sighed. Karen had reiterated this nearly every day since she’d started working here. He didn’t need a guide dog. Yes, he had bruises, but they were from… other things. He didn’t want to get a dog only to leave it alone at home everyday in his appartment. But he didn’t see any other way to appease Karen. Suddenly, he had an idea. 

“Fine,” he said, grabbing his coat and cane again and heading for the door of the office. 

Behind him, he hears Foggy drop his mug in shock, “What?”

Matt flashed his partner a sly grin and exited the office.

* * *

 

Matt remembered that Foggy went to a pet shop across from the Chinese restaurant that always gave them both indigestion in order to buy food for his pet fish, whom he had, in spectacularly bad taste, renamed ‘Wilson Fishk’. Matt remembered the way well enough, and decided against hailing a taxi in favor of walking. He started off briskly, tapping his cane in front of him, already in a significantly better mood. 

He could smell fur, urine, and fish from a distance and pushed open the door without hesitation when he reached the shop, cueing a light tinkle from the bell attached to the door. He could tell there were five puppies along the right wall and a counter on the left, fish tanks opposite him and various displays of food, toys, and other supplies in between. He swept his cane in front of him, the tapping noise drawing the employees’ attention- he heard their heart rates increase in surprise and nervousness at the sight of a blind man in their shop. 

Ignoring their obvious discomfort, he moved forward with relative surety, stopping when his cane hit the counter. He smiled reassuringly and waited for one of the employees to say something. 

Eventually there came a voice from the man on his left, “H-hello sir. Is there anything we can help you with?”

Matt nodded, asking, “Do you have any cats, perchance?”

The man, whose voice was relatively young, let out a small breath and Matt felt the air shift and assumed that he had nodded.

Matt waited, and eventually there came a quiet, “Oh… Uhm, yes.”

The employee slowly made his way out from behind the counter. 

“It’s in the back of the shop. I can… take you?”

Matt laughed quietly and offered his arm in the young man’s direction.

“Lead on.”

The cats were housed in a small back room. Matt could hear four light, rapid heartbeats and three of the felines shifted and hissed in an affronted matter at the invasion of their space. The fourth remained still where it sat perched on top of some structure across the room. Matt frowned slightly.

“How many are there?”

The employee started at his voice, obviously not expecting him to have questions.

“Umm. Four. There’s four of them.”

Matt smiled again, “Is there any pertinent information that you could give me about them?”

The employee took another deep breath and led Matt further another few feet.

“They all came from a nearby shelter. Three of them are perfectly healthy.”

Matt tilted his head, “And the fourth?”

“She uh… that cat’s deaf sir.”

Matt couldn’t help the laughter that burst from his throat, quickly building into something approaching hysterical. He doubled over, his shoulders shaking helplessly. He could hear the employee's heart rate shoot through the roof.

“Sir! Sir? A-are you ok?” 

The young man sounded extremely alarmed and Matt almost felt bad, but he was still laughing too hard to do anything about it.

Eventually, he straightened up, still chuckling, while the employee hovered at his elbow.

“I don’t think you understand how much I  _ need  _ this cat,” Matt said earnestly, and the employee stuttered something unintelligible. 

* * *

There was a knock at the door of the office and Foggy looked up from his papers to see Karen heading to open it. Foggy looked back down, only to look immediately back up when he heard Karen make a strangled noise.

A second later, Matt walked in, a smug expression on his face and following a rather alarmed-looking calico cat on a bright purple leash.

Foggy fell out of his chair, clutching his stomach in laughter. 

Matt continued into the office, faithfully following the cat as it zigzagged across the space randomly.

Karen, who had been frozen in shock at the door, slammed it and turned around, wordlessly mouthing something. She found her voice a few moments later.

“This is not what I meant when I said to get a guide dog!” she yelled, and Foggy began laughing even harder. 

“She’s deaf, too,” Matt offered innocently as the cat crawled under a desk and he bumped into the edge. 

“That is the exact opposite of a guide dog!” Karen shrieked, while Foggy wheezed on the floor. 

Abruptly, the cat turned around and made her way into the next room. Matt followed diligently, stopping and staring sightlessly at the wall while the cat began to investigate the air conditioning vent.

Foggy managed to stagger to his feet, wiping tears from his eyes as Karen stared in horror at the scene in the next room. 

“I’ve never been prouder,” he proclaimed.

“I’ve never been more ashamed,” Karen muttered.

“What’s her name?” Foggy called, giggling madly. 

“Mouse,” Matt responded, following her back into the main office room, where Foggy had burst out laughing hysterically again. Karen sat down in the nearest chair, her hands covering her face.

* * *

 

Matt spent the rest of the day following Mouse, at one point following her outside when she rubbed at the door. When he failed to return after a few minutes, Foggy left to check on him and witnessed him exiting the office building. Foggy, mildly concerned for his friends safety, followed him out the door and down the street, where Matt turned off the sidewalk and into a park. 

People turned to stare at Matt as he wandered aimlessly after the cat. Foggy saw someone lift up their phone and start recording, but was too busy cracking up to do much about it.

* * *

 

The next morning, there was new video going viral on the internet. Titled “A Blind Man and His Seeing Eye Cat”, the video consisted of a blind man in an impeccably pressed suit walking through a flock of birds under the guidance of his cat. It had accumulated one thousand views already; a number which was quickly mounting. 

Matt spent the next week bagel free, courtesy of one Karen Page, and didn’t stop smiling. 

 


End file.
